Chapter 711: A Warm-up Match in the Truest Sense

Sohu: 9.83 seconds! In the Tokyo Olympics men's 100m semi-final, Su Su Bingtian clocked 9.83 seconds, breaking the Asian record and advancing to the final as the heat winner.

The Paper—Men's football semi-final: China's U-23 men's team lost 1:2 to Ivory Coast's U-23 team, stopping at the quarter-finals; Jiang Li Shenglong scored.

As the Tokyo Olympics entered its latter stage, both field and track events moved into the elimination rounds, making for plenty of highlights.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Olympic team delivered both good news and bad news.

With 9.83 seconds breaking the Asian record, regardless of the final result, Su Su Bingtian's performance in the semi-final can only be described as stunning.

However, the Chinese U-23 men's team was eliminated immediately after advancing to the knockout stage, which is truly a pity.

Titan Sports—According to the Football Association, if the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were held as scheduled, Tang Ye would most likely participate.

Seeing the news from Titan Sports, Chinese fans did not know whether to feel relieved or regretful.

Being age-eligible but not participating in the Olympics is definitely good for Tang Ye personally, because an Olympic medal actually holds little weight for a footballer.

But the U-23 national team suffered.

Given the actual situation of the men's football event at this Olympics, had the U-23 team simply pulled Tang Ye into the squad and added two over-age players, winning a medal would have been incredibly easy.

Repost: Tang Ye shared Jiang Li Shenglong's goal video on social media with the comment, "Keep it up!"

"9.83 seconds, that is truly impressive..."

Watching the U-23 team get eliminated by Ivory Coast on TV, Tang Ye felt extremely frustrated.

Fortunately, Su Su Bingtian brought good news at this moment, and very, very good news at that.

"We are all Chinese, so why can't you run fast?"

Seizing the opportunity, Dembélé directly provoked Tang Ye: "You run a 9.83 too, Tom, then I won't have to play as a winger; let me play as an attacking midfielder."

Dembélé considered himself skilled at passing and, disliking wing runs, found the midfield position very attractive.

"Me running 9.83?"

"Haha, ok, wait until I train it out, give me another four years, and I'll participate in both the World Cup and the Olympics then."

Tang Ye joked back with Dembélé: "But before I run 9.83, I want to see you playing in midfield first."

"If you can secure a spot as an attacking midfielder at any Premier League team, then I can also run 9.83."

Tang Ye appeared to set a goal for himself, but in reality, he cleverly set a trap for Dembélé.

Combining two impossible events and demanding the other party complete one first seems like a ruffian's move, but it is actually extremely effective.

"Screw you, fuck!"

Dembélé waved his hand: "In that case, I'll run 9.83, and you go play as a striker; can you score ten headers in a season?"

"Haha! You don't think your heading is that great, do you, Ousmane? I can head the ball too, you just haven't seen it."

"Ok ok, whatever."

They started talking about 9.83 seconds, but later the conversation shifted to headers.

Once they started talking about headers, Tang Ye and Dembélé inevitably began discussing Cristiano Ronaldo.

"So, is Ronaldo coming over?"

Dembélé voiced his doubt.

The internet was full of rumors linking Cristiano Ronaldo with Manchester United.

Fans did not know the actual situation, but as a Manchester United player, Dembélé had the convenience of asking Tang Ye directly.

However, Tang Ye did not seem to think this matter concerned him.

"Why are you asking me? How would I know?"

"Doesn't this depend on Sitting Like? It's his decision; it has nothing to do with me."

Tang Ye was determined to distance himself from this matter.

Because he understood the 'Jurassic Park' fans all too well; regardless of whether Cristiano Ronaldo ultimately came to Manchester United, if Tang Ye misspoke a single word during the transfer window, he would inevitably face backlash from the fans.

The new king of football had already ascended the throne, but as a newcomer, Tang Ye needed to maintain sufficient respect for Messi and Ronaldo, the former kings.

"Come on! This concerns you; everyone online is saying so."

Dembélé signaled Tang Ye to stop pretending: "If you don't agree, Ronaldo definitely won't come!"

"It depends on what Sitting Like thinks; whether I agree or not is not the main point."

"No, listen to me..."

"I feel like in the end, it will still be up to you to decide."

Bruno Fernandes interrupted Dembélé.

As a Portuguese national, Bruno Fernandes most likely hoped Cristiano Ronaldo would come, so he had clearly looked into the matter as well.

"I, I don't know..."

Tang Ye shook his head gently, truly feeling very helpless.

"Did Sitting Like ask you about this, regarding Cristiano?"

Facing the question posed by Rodri, Tang Ye thought carefully.

"He did ask."

"That settles it then!"

Clap!

Rodri and Bruno Fernandes clapped their hands simultaneously.

Although transfers appeared to be a collective team effort, the Cristiano Ronaldo matter carried significant special circumstances.

This matter was influenced by many related factors, with the biggest factor being Tang Ye.

"Then..."

Rodri pinched his chin, looking at Tang Ye: "How do you plan to handle this?"

"Ahem, I mean, if you want to answer, you can answer; if you don't want to, it doesn't matter."

Not knowing if such a question was too blunt, Rodri first apologized to Tang Ye.

"Oh! It's fine, it's fine!"

Tang Ye actually didn't care much.

Because in his eyes, teammates should be able to share thoughts with each other.

"Actually... I feel I shouldn't be too opposed to Cristiano coming over."

"He's quite good."

Gritting his teeth, Tang Ye said: "But I feel that if we're going to buy a striker, Kane would be better, because Kane is younger."

Thinking rationally, Cristiano Ronaldo was of course outstanding.

But from a long-term perspective, viewing the matter from the club's standpoint, the younger Kane might be a better choice for Manchester United.

They could even follow Ten Hag's plan to observe Osimhen's condition during the friendly matches and see if they could scratch a high-cost lottery ticket worth nearly 100 million euros.

Bank of America Stadium.

This was the home ground of the Carolina Panthers, and also the venue for today's friendly match between Manchester United and Napoli.

As an NFL team, the Panthers' home stadium boasted 75,000 seats.

Although there were many seats, since the match was between Manchester United and Napoli, over 60,000 fans still showed up, making it the football match with the highest attendance in the United States this year.

"Tang Ye!"

"Tang Ye!"

Stepping off the bus.

It had been quite a long time since his last visit to the United States, and he only just remembered that he had so many fervent fans here in America.

While taking photos with fans, Tang Ye secretly walked over to Dembélé: "I feel a bit guilty right now."

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"They support me so much, yet I peeked at their military transport aircraft; actually, I shouldn't have looked."

"..."

"Haha!"

Dembélé shook his head: "But we didn't see anything, so it's not a problem."

"That makes sense."

"Then remind me when we return; I won't open the window shade."

Bilibili!

As the sole domestic rights holder for the third friendly match, Bilibili had made ample preparations for this event.

Although the platform's traffic fell short of Douyin's, broadcasting Manchester United's friendly matches could attract many new users to B Station, including a large number of loyal fans in their thirties and forties.

For B Station, the role of football matches was to help them absorb more users over the age of 30.

"Dear viewers, welcome to this friendly match between Manchester United and Napoli. The venue is located in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; this is an American football stadium with over 70,000..."

In the camera frame, Osimhen and Politano stood in the center circle, waiting for the referee's whistle to kick off.